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A54215 Som free reflections upon occasion of the public discourse about liberty of conscience and the consequences thereof in this present conjuncture in a letter to a friend / by one who cordially imbraces whatsoever there is of tru religion in al professions, and hates every thing which makes any of them hate or hurt one another. Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1687 (1687) Wing P1366; ESTC R40051 12,299 21

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on the contrary what discontent and murmuring what contests and factions they have raised and fomented among us I say if this be considered methinks the ground of mens present apprehensions should in a great measure be taken away What good is it in truth that those Laws have don us They have not hindred the spreading of any fanciful Opinions among the different Sects into which we ar divided But they have rendred al those Sectaries discontented inclined them to Sedition and Rebellion and therby made the Government it self uneasy and unsecure This is plain matter of fact most evidently visible to every one that dos not wilfully blinde himself Why therfore should any one be alarumed at the change of those Laws which we have experienced to be so insignificant not to say so contrary unto the very ends for which they were Established And why should not we al much rather rejoyce at the prospect of this new Experiment of Liberty which affords more lively hopes of stable Comfort Truly the design appears to me so plausible that I cannot conceiv any thing but Interest capable to blinde mens mindes in the consideration of it But to that supposition of mine it may perhaps be here replyed with confidence That it is indeed Interest which causes the reluctancy we ar speaking of and that their Interest being such it is fitting men should maintain it and oppose al innovations contrary therunto For this they think sufficiently authorized by that Fundamental Maxim of Salu● Populi c. which affirms the Peoples Interest to be the supremest Law. This Maxim indeed I allow to be unquestionably just and if their application of it to this case be so too we must acknowledg they have reason and joyn with them But if on the contrary the continuance of the Test and Penalties be only the Interest of a very smal part of the Nation and that the general Interest of the whole lys in the Liberty now designed then wil the force of their main Artillery be found pointed against themselves and their Argument easily destroyed It is necessary therfore to consider whose Interest it is to introduce this Liberty and whose to oppose it that we may judg which of the two is the most general But that judgment is so easy that no man can be long in suspense about it The whole Body of Dissenters from the Church of England however subdivided and distinguished in other things ar al united comprehended in that common Cause They have al been straitned persecuted and oppressed and therfore nothing can be more natural than for them to desire Liberty and Ease Now this collective Body of the several Dissenters is manifestly greater than the Church of England alone But besides these it is also evident that a great part of the Church of England it self I dar boldly say the best part of it those Learned and Rational Divines I mean who have somtimes by opprobry been termed Latitudinarians tho in truth the word sound nothing but honorable Those have always declared themselvs of moderate Principles their Interest lys also evidently in Moderation and Forbearance because they ar no less hated by the severer sort of their own Brethren than even the Disienters themselvs and the People that have been influenced by their Doctrin is so numerous that the remaining strict and narrow-spirited Church-of England-men whose Interest ingages them to maintain their own Priviledges by infringing the just Rights of their Neighbours this remaining number I say is so smal in comparison of the whole Body of the Nation that it is even ridiculous for them to build their pretences upon the forementioned Maxim which in effect is directly contrary therunto Now if this be so indeed that Liberty of Conscience is not only the Right of every particular Man but also the general Interest of the whole Nation methinks no Man ought any longer to be a shamed of or alarumed at the project of it but rather every honest Man ought to contribute his Endeavours that it may succeed Yes may somday if it were only Liberty of Conscience that were pretended to there could be little objected against it Nay it must be confest that the bent of the Nation that way is now so strong that the most part would freely enough consent to the abolishing of those Penal Laws which have hitherto restrained it But say they that is not al. Those that design the abolishing of the Penal Laws do at the same time design to take away the Test and therby not onely to permit the Exercise of the Roman Catholic Religion but also to admit Roman Catholics into a share of our Government which they ad is a Consideration wholly of a different Nature from that of meer Liberty of Conscience and the Practice wherof would be very unpolitic This is the Objection that makes the great Cry in this Conjuncture Those that endeavour to introduce Liberty of Conscience aim also to take away the Test Those that would take away the Test ar secret if not open Papists And both the one and the other under pretence of Liberty of Conscience ar Betrayers of the tru Libertys and fundamental Laws of their Country With this Cry many modest and honest Men ar born down and silenced And indeed it requires more than ordinary Courage and Strength to bear up against so impetuous a Torrent But when all is don Truth and Reason ar able to bear up against any thing And therefore I will now examin impartially whether they be found on the side of these Objectors or of the forementioned Patrons of Liberty Two things especially ar here to be inquired into First whether the Test as it is by Law imposed upon Roman Catholics be really an Intrenchment upon the natural and just Liberty of their Consciences or whether indeed it be a meer political thing of a different Nature without any Relation therunto And in the next place whether the taking away of that Test may probably prove advantagious or prejudicial to the general Interest of the Nation Upon these two Considerations lys the Stress of this whole Debate Now to the first I must needs affirm that in my Opinion the imposing of that Test is a thing of a mixt Nature It is indeed political because the design of it is to exclude the Roman Catholics from public Imployment But it is also Religious because it makes their Opinion in Religion the Condition of that Exclusion And therefore it can in no wise be said to be of so different a Nature from the Liberty of Conscience we are speaking of as to have no Relation at al therunto On the contrary I conceiv not how any one can doubt it to be an infringement of that Liberty For those Imployments being not hereditary the way to them is by Nature open to every Man according as his Capacity and other Circumstances may fit him for them Now if a Person otherwise duly qualified for such an Imployment which might